She turns coffee into books so she can afford to buy more coffee. And more books.

Day: June 3, 2011

By Monday the post-vacation fog will have lifted and normal service will resume here on Catherine, Caffeinated, but in the meantime, some housekeeping:

This weekend the third More Mousetrapped story, Velcro Vicky, will be going out to everyone on the More Mousetrapped mailing list, along with links to the two previous More Mousetrapped stories, Night Ride on the Beeline and The Barbecue Incident. If you want to receive it and future More Mousetrapped stories (there’ll be one a month between now and December), you can sign up to the mailing list here.

In other news, reviews are starting to come in for Self-Printed: The Sane Person’s Guide to Self-Publishing (which is – plug alert! – available now in paperback and e-book. Click here for more information.) This, from Michael Harling on Amazon.co.uk, is so my favorite:

“This is a one-stop shop for all your DIY publishing needs, covering everything from formatting text and getting accounts on all of those different web sites to how to navigate the often intimidating world of social media. Originally, I was disappointed at not having had the opportunity to read the book before I published mine, but despite coming at it after the fact, there was still a wealth of critical information to be gleaned. Because the book is so comprehensive, it filled the void left after reading half a dozen “Twitter For Dummies” type books and did so with simple, concise and easy to understand directions. In addition to this, the book is almost frighteningly readable. Catherine’s writing style, which I was first introduced to in her self-published travel memoir, “Mousetrapped,” is so captivating and comical I literally had a hard time putting the book down. The other unique appeal of this book, making it–to my mind–the quintessential self-publishing guide, is that all this information is served with a heaping portion of delusion-busting, real-world common sense. “…[Amanda Hocking’s] success has been truly amazing…but there’s only one Amanda hocking, and if there’s ever another one, the odds are you won’t be it.” Catherine does, however, point out that, while dreams of millions should remain dreams, the idea of earning a respectable amount is clearly within your reach–if you do it right. And `right’ is not what she purports to teach you; she is merely showing you how–and just as importantly, why–she self-published “Mousetrapped” and sold over 4,000 copies in the first year. If you are thinking of self-publishing, you must read this book. If you are as confused about social media as I was, you could do worse than read this book. And if you are tired of the “How to Make Millions Publishing Your Own Books While Sticking It To the Big 6 Publishers” manuals, and are ready for some real-world, real-life advice that will leave you chuckling, you definitely should read this book.”

Thank you, Michael! And for those of you who might want to read Self-Printed but don’t need all of it – maybe you’ve already self-published and just want the marketing section, or maybe you already have a successful blog and just want the e-book section, or maybe you already have an e-book and want to find out how to use CreateSpace – then fear not.

Soon I’ll be releasing three smaller e-book titles, called Self-Printed Shorts and priced at just 99c. These will combine relevant sections of the full-length Self-Printed book to make shorter, more specific titles including:

How to Publish a POD Paperback with CreateSpace

How to Publish an E-book with Amazon KDP and Smashwords

How to Sell Books Using Social Media.

I’ll have more information closer to the release time. For now, have a good weekend!